Top Five Reads of December 2023 – Historical Romance Books

You’re the Duke That I Want by Lenora Bell (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Thunderbolt Club series. This book is a super fun Grease-retelling, with Sandrine being the sheltered young miss who meets Lord Dane (pretending to be a mere Danny) at the seaside. Lord Dane is typically a scoundrel and a rake, but is kind and sweet and enjoys the simple things when he’s with Sandrine. He leaves the seaside town unexpectedly when his brother is gravely injured and is concerned that he’s the heir to the dukedom. Sandrine ends up traveling to London to petition a certain duke to restore an old manor house, and is pretty angry to find that Dane has both lied to her and related to the duke that owns the manor. With a new set of lady friends, Sandrine gets to experience more of London adventures away from her overly strict mother while also continuing to run into Dane. There’s lots of interesting plot going on in this book, with Dane dealing with a blackmailer and Sandrine breaking free from her mother’s constraints. This book was a very enjoyable read.

Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley.

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Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young (2023)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Super funny and emotional one-night stand, accidental pregnancy romance. Win and Bo meet at their friends’ Halloween party, flirt, hook-up, and plan on never seeing each other again. Six weeks later, Win finds out she’s pregnant and needs to rework her whole life plan. When she tells Bo the news, he’s surprisingly emotional and supportive. They end up becoming friends with a co-parenting plan and eventually move into Bo’s house together. It’s a slow-burn romance as they get to know each other better and Bo is basically the best most supportive father ever. There’s all sorts of humor as they banter with each other and it’s clear they’re going to be strong partners throughout the book. Excellent excellent read.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited. Audiobook provided by Libro.fm.

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The Governess and the Duke by Lydia Drake (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Renegade Dukes series. Viola is the governess to one duke’s rambunctious ward with a long-standing crush on that duke’s best friend. When traveling with her charge, the teenage girl falls and sprains her ankle, forcing the pair to stay at James’ ducal castle. Although James has been hiding away in the country after the embarrassment of a rejected proposal, he finds himself intrigued and attracted to Viola and wondering why he had never noticed her before. Both James and Viola try to fight their attraction to each other at first, being of different social standing, but that doesn’t last for too long. Viola’s charge and James’ sister become fast friends and cause all sorts of trouble, which is humorous to read. When we find out about Viola’s past and the secrets she’s been keeping, she’s pleasantly surprised by James’ reaction. Overall, this was a pretty straightforward social class difference romance, made more interesting by the antics of the teenage ward and sister.

Advance ebook provided by Entangled Publishing via NetGalley.

The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson (2023)

Contemporary paranormal romance. Standalone novel. Fake dating omegaverse story between an ER doc omega and grumpy cardiologist alpha. Mackenzie is tired of her grandmother setting her up on terrible dates so she lies and says that she’s dating someone, specifically the very grumpy and antisocial Noah. When she asks Noah for a fake date selfie in the breakroom, he counters by asking her to be his fake mate so that he doesn’t get in trouble with the hospital board for not disclosing his alpha status. Apparently, being properly mated may decrease the chances of his alpha hormones causing inappropriate aggression, nevermind that he’s on suppressant drugs. We get lots of fun banter here as Mackenzie loves to joke around and Noah has no sense of humor at all and lots of steam starting with casual sex and an unexpected heat cycle. If you’re new to reading omegaverse, this one is a pretty good introduction, and you’ll find a primer on the terminology on Lana Ferguson’s Instagram page.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Taming the Savage Duke by Barbara Russell (2023)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the Victorian Outcasts series. Chaos and tragedy for everyone involved in this book. Maddie is on the cusp of receiving entry into a prestigious art academy, but an accident involving an overzealous botanist leaves her painting ruined and her hand injured and unable to paint. Hector is the brother of a duke who wants acceptance into his own scientific academy and accidentally injured Maddie in an attempt to collect a rare plant. He feels horribly guilty for her injury and only accepts his place on a South American expedition after Maddie’s encouragement to leave. Unfortunately, his ship goes down before he even reaches his destination and he’s declared dead. Eight years later, Hector is found alive, having survived alone on an island all this time. In this time, his brother and mother had both passed away and his horrible cousin is now the duke. Maddie gets involved to assist Hector in regaining his manners and civility to gain his title back. The romance is slow and sweet and low-angst, while we work through all of the external struggles that Maddie ad Hector have. This was action-packed and kept me enthralled the whole way through.

Advance ebook provided by Oliver Heber via NetGalley.